LAGOS, Nigeria -- Almost a year after Nigeria's military government announced the latest plan for a transition to democracy, many civilian politicians are back on the streets organizing for national elections scheduled for 1998.The previous transition, by another military government, ended abruptly in 1993, when the country's military rulers annulled a presidential election widely believed to have been won by Moshood K. Abiola, a businessman now imprisoned.Ignoring those who are skeptical that the current leader, Gen. Sani Abacha, wants a genuine transition to civilian rule, 18 political groups have responded to the lifting of a three-year ban on party politics in June by organizing political meetings, complete with songs and slogans about democracy.

On Wednesday the U.S. announced that President Barack Obama had suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt in response to the military government's bloody crackdown that has left more than 1,000 protesters dead and thousands more jailed or forced into hiding. Aides to the president say the suspension of aid is temporary and aimed at demonstrating American displeasure with the generals' attempt to abort the fledgling democracy Egyptians were trying to construct after the fall of former strongman Hosni Mubarak two years ago. But while the U.S. may wish to leverage the aid it gives Egypt's military to nudge its current leaders toward returning power to an elected civilian government, there's been little sign the generals are listening or, if they are, that the prospect of a suspension of U.S. aid will do much to alter their behavior.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court's unanimous decision to strike down the Massachusetts Burma law says more about the pro-business bias of the present court than it does about the legal principles involved in the case. The Massachusetts selective purchasing law made it hard for companies that do business in Burma to win contracts from the state. It is difficult to see what is wrong with that. After all, our law respects the concept of consumer sovereignty: as individuals, we are free to vote with our dollars and refuse to buy anything from any company that we dislike.

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court's unanimous decision to strike down the Massachusetts Burma law says more about the pro-business bias of the present court than it does about the legal principles involved in the case. The Massachusetts selective purchasing law made it hard for companies that do business in Burma to win contracts from the state. It is difficult to see what is wrong with that. After all, our law respects the concept of consumer sovereignty: as individuals, we are free to vote with our dollars and refuse to buy anything from any company that we dislike.

On Wednesday the U.S. announced that President Barack Obama had suspended hundreds of millions of dollars in aid to Egypt in response to the military government's bloody crackdown that has left more than 1,000 protesters dead and thousands more jailed or forced into hiding. Aides to the president say the suspension of aid is temporary and aimed at demonstrating American displeasure with the generals' attempt to abort the fledgling democracy Egyptians were trying to construct after the fall of former strongman Hosni Mubarak two years ago. But while the U.S. may wish to leverage the aid it gives Egypt's military to nudge its current leaders toward returning power to an elected civilian government, there's been little sign the generals are listening or, if they are, that the prospect of a suspension of U.S. aid will do much to alter their behavior.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Argentina's oldest army base, home to the presidential guard regiment, is for rent.Strapped for cash, the army has leased part of the base to a grocery store and is looking for a commercial tenant to move into another building."

Lagos, Nigeria. -- In a nation that has spent 23 of the 33 years since independence under military rulers, the current attempt at democratic elections has yet to convince people it will lead to civilian rule.General Ibrahim Babangida, faced with the drastic plunge of the naira in less than three years to one twentieth of its value, has presided over the crumbling of living standards even though the country pumps nearly 2 million barrels of oil per day.Nationwide strikes by civil servants unable to feed and house their families paralyzed schools for the past two months and in February shut hospitals, water, electric supplies and other public services.

Roger Hewes Wells, 100, a political scientist and authority on Germany who taught for four decades at Bryn Mawr College, died on June 16 in Jacksonville, Ill. He served for a time as chairman of the college's political science department, and his writings on Germany include the book "The States in West German Federalism." In early post-World War II Germany, he was deputy director of civil administration in the U.S. military government.@

Maurice Schumann,86, a former French foreign minister who was a mainstay of French and European politics for a half-century, died yesterday in Paris, a spokeswoman for theSenate said.Rene Epelbaum,77, who led Argentine mothers in "dirty war" protests after the disappearance of her three children, died Friday of a heart attack in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Her three children -- Luis, Claudio and Lila, all in their late 20s -- were kidnapped in 1976, when Argentina's military government was cracking down on leftists and dissidents.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Argentina's oldest army base, home to the presidential guard regiment, is for rent.Strapped for cash, the army has leased part of the base to a grocery store and is looking for a commercial tenant to move into another building."

LAGOS, Nigeria -- Almost a year after Nigeria's military government announced the latest plan for a transition to democracy, many civilian politicians are back on the streets organizing for national elections scheduled for 1998.The previous transition, by another military government, ended abruptly in 1993, when the country's military rulers annulled a presidential election widely believed to have been won by Moshood K. Abiola, a businessman now imprisoned.Ignoring those who are skeptical that the current leader, Gen. Sani Abacha, wants a genuine transition to civilian rule, 18 political groups have responded to the lifting of a three-year ban on party politics in June by organizing political meetings, complete with songs and slogans about democracy.

Lagos, Nigeria. -- In a nation that has spent 23 of the 33 years since independence under military rulers, the current attempt at democratic elections has yet to convince people it will lead to civilian rule.General Ibrahim Babangida, faced with the drastic plunge of the naira in less than three years to one twentieth of its value, has presided over the crumbling of living standards even though the country pumps nearly 2 million barrels of oil per day.Nationwide strikes by civil servants unable to feed and house their families paralyzed schools for the past two months and in February shut hospitals, water, electric supplies and other public services.

THE VISIT of Pope John Paul II to Egypt symbolizes the need for Islam and Christendom to coexist. The world is too small for them not to do so. Yet communal strife between members of the two great faiths flares in Egypt, other Arab countries, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, the Russian Caucasus, Indonesia, even northern Nigeria. This is the first visit of a pontiff to Egypt. Despite his personal agenda of visiting such Biblical sites as Mount Sinai, the world sees a healing, ecumenical mission to the modern world.

Here is an excerpt of an editorial from the Neue Zuercher Zeitung, in Zurich, Switzerland, which was published Monday.NIGERIA'S military ruler, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar, kept his word. As he announced a year ago, he turned over the leadership of the country on May 29 to a successor elected by the people.It is only the second time that a Nigerian military government has actually fulfilled a promise to return to barracks.General Abubakar was following the example of his successor Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, who in 1979 handed over power to the civilian Shehu Shagari.